- Occupation
Producer, Director - Country
Estonia
Pikkov Ülo
Estonian Stories. A Letter from Ruhnu
A fateful newspaper ad brings a young teacher Kadri to teach on a small Estonian island called Ruhnu. Her job is to teach the youngest children in Ruhnu School’s 1st and 2nd grade - both grades have one student. At the same time, Kadri tries to get used to life on the island and understand the strange habits and tiny peculiarities of the villagers living in the island’s isolated conditions.
Normal
Slices of everyday life in Ruhnu, Bayrischzell, Tallinn and Schwerin. Vitali, a loner, laughs at putrid capitalists, but is a proud owner of two Mercedes cars on the little island of Ruhnu where the longest road is 3 km. Farmer Gabi lives in the middle of the Bavarian mountains, complains about the strict German bureaucracy and is not willing to accept that the time of traditional small farms is over. A retired teacher Christoph from East-German Schwerin has a lot of trouble fighting against the last Lenin monument in the Western world. And political activist Maire from Tallinn still feels threatened by neighbouring Russia, demanding that the Communist criminals should finally be punished. A film about the gap and the proximity between Estonian and German normality in the present day.
A fateful newspaper ad brings a young teacher Kadri to teach on a small Estonian island called Ruhnu. Her job is to teach the youngest children in Ruhnu School’s 1st and 2nd grade - both grades have one student. At the same time, Kadri tries to get used to life on the island and understand the strange habits and tiny peculiarities of the villagers living in the island’s isolated conditions.
Normal
Slices of everyday life in Ruhnu, Bayrischzell, Tallinn and Schwerin. Vitali, a loner, laughs at putrid capitalists, but is a proud owner of two Mercedes cars on the little island of Ruhnu where the longest road is 3 km. Farmer Gabi lives in the middle of the Bavarian mountains, complains about the strict German bureaucracy and is not willing to accept that the time of traditional small farms is over. A retired teacher Christoph from East-German Schwerin has a lot of trouble fighting against the last Lenin monument in the Western world. And political activist Maire from Tallinn still feels threatened by neighbouring Russia, demanding that the Communist criminals should finally be punished. A film about the gap and the proximity between Estonian and German normality in the present day.
Mother Ksenya
Right alongside Jerusalem, in a Russian Orthodox Convent in Mount of Olives, in the middle of the Arab quarter, lives the 82 year-old Estonian nun Mother Ksenya. Although inside the convent‘s cement walls the clock is never set and life still follows the Julius calendar, the 20 years that Mother Ksenya has spent there have passed by in a flash. Her companions remain the same - nuns. Among them are some mothers and daughters; some are mentally ill; most don’t know how to read or write. Time and time again, spring brings its long period of fasting, summer its unbearable heat, and autumn the olive picking season. And as winter comes, Mother Ksenya once again defies her age and goes on the long journey from Israel to Estonia. In the hierarchy of the nunnery, Mother Ksenya has now achieved the second-to-last level. If the abbess, who has absolute power at the convent, and the church synod should decide to promote Mother Ksenya to the last level, i.e. the Great Schema, she would have to forgo all that is worldly and enclose herself in silence. In the Great Schema, nuns live on a completely different level - they eat and sleep very little and are constantly in silent prayer. This is what is called „becoming an angel“. Mother Ksenya is pretty close of getting it, but she has a dilemma. If she will be appointed to the Great Schema, she would not be able to travel anymore and visit her homeland Estonia. Mother Ksenya is heading towards the silence and has decided to tell everything what has happened to her. This is the last chance for her to rethink her life, analyse it and then really leave it all behind for good.
Right alongside Jerusalem, in a Russian Orthodox Convent in Mount of Olives, in the middle of the Arab quarter, lives the 82 year-old Estonian nun Mother Ksenya. Although inside the convent‘s cement walls the clock is never set and life still follows the Julius calendar, the 20 years that Mother Ksenya has spent there have passed by in a flash. Her companions remain the same - nuns. Among them are some mothers and daughters; some are mentally ill; most don’t know how to read or write. Time and time again, spring brings its long period of fasting, summer its unbearable heat, and autumn the olive picking season. And as winter comes, Mother Ksenya once again defies her age and goes on the long journey from Israel to Estonia. In the hierarchy of the nunnery, Mother Ksenya has now achieved the second-to-last level. If the abbess, who has absolute power at the convent, and the church synod should decide to promote Mother Ksenya to the last level, i.e. the Great Schema, she would have to forgo all that is worldly and enclose herself in silence. In the Great Schema, nuns live on a completely different level - they eat and sleep very little and are constantly in silent prayer. This is what is called „becoming an angel“. Mother Ksenya is pretty close of getting it, but she has a dilemma. If she will be appointed to the Great Schema, she would not be able to travel anymore and visit her homeland Estonia. Mother Ksenya is heading towards the silence and has decided to tell everything what has happened to her. This is the last chance for her to rethink her life, analyse it and then really leave it all behind for good.
Ülo Pikkov (b. 1976)studied animation at Turku Arts Academy in Finland and since 1996 has directed several award-winning short animation films in Eesti Joonisfilm and Nukufilm studios. His articles, caricatures and illustrations have been published in the Estonian press. In 2005 he graduated from the Institute of Law in University of Tartu, focusing on the media and author’s rights. Since then, he has worked as a manager and producer for documentary and animation films in Silmviburlane. For several years Ülo was also the legal expert for the Estonian Film Foundation and chairman of Audiovisual Arts board at the Estonian Cultural Endowment. In parallel with producer’s work Ülo has continued directing his own animation films and supporting new talents in the Estonian animation scene. Together with Priit Pärn he is the founder and associate professor of the Animation Department in the Estonian Academy of Arts.
As a producer: Big House (animation / 10’ / in production); Normal (documentary / 57’ / 2010 / co-produced by S. Van Slooten); A Letter from Ruhnu (documentary / 29’ / 2010); Escape (animation / 5’ / 2009); The Healer (animation / 4’ / 2007). As a director: Dialogos (animation / 5’ / 2008); Taste of Life (animation / 12’ / 2006); Frank and Wendy (animated series & feature / 75’ / 2005 / co-directed by P. Pärn, P. Tender, K. Jancis).
Eesti Joonisfilm
Roo 9
10611 Tallinn
Roo 9
10611 Tallinn
Silmviburlane
Ristiku 15-8
10612 Tallinn
Ristiku 15-8
10612 Tallinn
33 international awards for the short film Body Memory (Nukufilm 2011), including BEST ANIMATION FILM AWARD at the 34th Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (France) and SILVER DRAGON - BEST DIRECTOR at the 52nd Krakow Film Festival (Poland).